Operation Restraint caught a few unsuspecting Wanaka motorists yesterday when police carried out traffic checks around the centre of town.
Senior Sergeant Allan Grindell, of Wanaka, said police officers had been conducting a campaign known as ``Operation Restraint'' throughout October to monitor seat-belt usage in vehicles around the whole of the Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago districts.
He said the principal focus had been on seat-belt use but police were also watching for cellphone use ``if it happened in front of us''.
Yesterday in Wanaka police conducted an operation involving three patrol cars and five officers taking ``observations'' around the central business district.
Notices were issued to 11 people for not wearing restraints and five people for using cellphones when driving.
Snr Sgt Grindell said the operation had been planned for a few days and there would be more when staffing levels
permitted.
``We don't hide, we use uniform cars and things like that ... but our main focus is to reduce road trauma and victims on our roads.''
``Once you've been through a few serious crashes where people have been ejected from cars and seen the results, I think everyone would wear a seat belt,'' he said.
